


i believe in what's supposed to be (it's supposed to be you and me)

by rocketshiptospace



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-01-15 04:24:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1291204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocketshiptospace/pseuds/rocketshiptospace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School teachers AU in which Gavin gets lost a lot and Michael yells a lot. In the mean time, Ray seems unable to talk to Joel and Barbara is always right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i believe in what's supposed to be (it's supposed to be you and me)

**Author's Note:**

> i started this fic literally like 7 months ago, lost complete interest for it, found it again today and was like "yeah ok i should maybe finish this" so here ya go :)

"Good morning!" Lindsay happily exclaims as she walks into the teachers lounge. "You all enjoying your first day back a bit?" She receives a couple of annoyed grumbles in response.

"The excitement is overwhelming." She dryly states, as she pours a cup of coffee and turns to her friends. "Seriously, none of you is glad to be back at work?"

Michael, who has his hands wrapped around a mug of coffee and a beanie shoved over his auburn curls, looking far from awake, huffs. "To be honest I would like an awful lot better if it didn't involve waking up early and screaming kids.”

"Oh stop complaining, you were the one who wanted to be a teacher, so you brought this all up on yourself. Besides the kids are just excited to see each other after the long summer vacation. What about you, Ray? You not excited? I mean, you normally are."

Ray just grumbles and Michael laughs. "Ray is in a shitty mood because he bumped into Joel this morning and couldn't choose between saying 'I am sorry' and 'Are you ok' so instead went with 'Are you sorry?' and now he's convinced he has ruined all his chances with the man. Not like he had any. He pretty much already lost all his chances when he accidentally threw a basketball in his face at the annual teacher sports day last year."

Ray hits Michael's shoulder and Michael laughs again. Lindsay disapprovingly shakes her head. "Stop being a dick, Michael, it is already bad enough that he has a crush on someone 18 years older than him who's obviously very straight and very not into Ray." Ray made a sad noise, which Lindsay ignored. "Anyway, where's Barbs? I haven't seen her all morning and most of the time she's the first one in."

And as if on cue, Barbara walks in, waving her arms around and smiling excitedly. "Guys! Guess what!"

"You've finally found someone who's willing to spend the rest of their life with you and you are now running of to get married and have like ten kids together." Michael says. He doesn't miss the look Barbara sends Lindsay before she continues talking.

"No, no, remember how Mr. Duncan quit last year? The physics teacher that fell asleep during classes a lot?" They all nod. If they're honest, nobody was sad to see him go. "Well, he's got a replacement and oh my sweet mother of Jezus, he is hot as dicks." She fawns herself and Lindsay huffs.  

"Oh come on, he can't be that hot." Barbara grabs Lindsay's shoulders and looks deep into her eyes, making Lindsay blush slightly. "No, Linds, you don't understand. He's cute and pretty and he's _British_."

Lindsay crosses her arms. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Oh, you will. And you will fall to your knees and beg me to forgive you for not believing me. That's how handsome he is."

\--

Gavin is absolutely and utterly lost. It is his first day at a new job and he has already screwed up. He shouldn’t have told Geoff that he could just go to work and that he would find his way because that is obviously not happening.

He is already ten minutes late now and there is probably a class filled with freshmen waiting for him and they are probably already nervous as dicks since it is the first day of high school and now their teacher isn’t there too and oh god he is going to get fired on his first day.

_Bollocks._

He desperately swings open a door in the hope it is his classroom or maybe there is at least a teacher inside who knows where he is supposed to go and suddenly he finds himself in the gym.

The gym teacher, who is screaming shit at the students who seem to be engaged in a pretty violent game of dodgeball, looks up and locks eyes with Gavin.

And oh. _Oh._

Gavin thinks Geoff could have at least given him a heads up about the really pretty gym teacher. He owes Gavin at least that after letting him get lost on his first day.

(“But he offered to show you where the classroom was and you were too stubborn too except!” a voice in his head speaks up. “Shut up” Gavin grumbles back.)

“Hello?” The gym teacher says, now standing in front of Gavin, giving Gavin even a better view of his face, with his brown eyes and light freckles and his auburn curls and _oh my god his arms_. Gavin would sure not mind being pinned down on the bed by those arms as- No, bad Gavin. Focus.

“Hi, I, eh, I am kind of lost?” It comes out as a question and Gavin mentally slaps himself.

“Are you now?” The guys says with a smirk and Gavin kind of melts because wow hello pretty smile alert.

“Yeah, eh, I’m looking for room 38?” Gavin says, peeking down at the papers he is holding in his hand. He feels like a fucking freshman all over again.

“The physics classroom, huh? That must mean you are the new physics teacher. And Barbara was right. Barbara was definitely right.”

Gavin has no idea who Barbara is or what she was right about but the teacher is grinning at him in a really really adorable way so he just smiles. “Yeah, physics. So, ehm, where am I supposes to go? Because I’m pretty sure my class is waiting for me.”

“Oh, the physics classroom is two doors down to the left.” He says and Gavin facepalms himself.

“So close. I was so close.” He sighs. “Thanks, ehm, what is your name actually?”

The guy grins. “The students call me Mr. Jones. But you can call me Michael.”

Gavin takes Michael’s extended hand and shakes it. “I’m Gavin. Gavin Free. Nice to meet you, Michael.”

“Pleasure.” Michael says. Suddenly a dodgeball flies their way and hits Michael straight in the back. He angrily swirls around to direct himself to the class. “OK  WHICH FUCKER THREW THAT MOTHERFUCKING SHIT BALL BECAUSE I CAN GARENTUE YOU HE OR SHE WILL BE RUNNING LAPS FOR THE REST OF THE GODDAMN YEAR.”

Gavin decides that’s his cue and quickly leaves the gym to finally go to his class.

\--

“Barbara, you were indeed right.” Michael says as he enters the teachers lounge and heads for the table where Barbara and Lindsay are already seated. Barbara cheers and Lindsay huffs.

“But,” he says and Barbara’s cheers falter, “he’s an absolute goddamn idiot.”

“Wait, how do you know that? Did you talk to him?” Barbara says, leaning in closer.

“Yeah, he walked into my gym class this morning. Told me he couldn’t find his classroom. It was literally two doors over. The disappointed look on his face when he found out he was so close was funny though.”

“Aaw, that is so cute! See, Linds, I told you! The guy is absolutely adorable!” Barbara squeals. Lindsay just grumbles and pokes her salad.

\--

Gavin’s morning is going rather shit. He was fifteen minutes late for his first class, didn’t seem to get anyone’s name right and kept dropping _everything._

At least his students seem to like him, the boys laughing at his antics and the girls sighing dreamily every single time he walks by their desks.

But still, he is very glad to see lunch break has arrived. He also still doesn’t know where he is supposed to go, so he is just wandering around aimlessly in the hope he will bump into Geoff or one of the other teachers.

He's currently studying the fire escape plan in hopes of figuring out where he's supposed to go, but the only thing it's telling him is that he is close to about three fire exits. Maybe he should make a run for it and not come back. He should just fly back to England and stay there. He should've never let Geoff convince him that working here would be a good idea.

'Come on Gavin it will be good for you, you'll meet new people, we can finally hang out in person and you need a job anyway! Just take the goddamn job, it'll be fun!' Geoff can go suck a dick for all Gavin cares. And the fire escape plan can suck a dick too. In fact, this whole school can just go suck a dick.

"Hello! Can I maybe help you? You look a bit lost." Someone says and Gavin swivels around to find a short man with black hair and nerdy looking glasses standing behind him. "I'm Ray by the way. I'm the spanish teacher here. You must be the new physics teacher, right?"

Gavin nods. "Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you."

Ray mumbles something that sounds a lot like 'Fucking Barbara is always right' but before Gavin can ask him who the fuck this Barbara is these people keep mentioning and where she is right about, Ray continues talking. "Anyway, let me show you where the teachers lounge is. At least, I'm assuming that's where you're headed."

Gavin smiles. "Yeah, thanks."

Ray starts to walk away and Gavin quickly follows him. Not even a minute later they arrive at the teachers lounge. Gavin realizes he seriously needs to do something about his sense of direction (or his lack of it).

He follows Ray into the lounge to a table in the back where a bunch of people are already sitting. He only recognizes Michael, the gym teacher from earlier and-

"Geoff!" Gavin exclaims when he spots the man. "I've been looking everywhere for you! I kind of couldn't find the teachers lounge..."

Before Geoff can say anything, Michael speaks up. "You got lost? Again? Jesus fucking Christ, you are so dumb."

"Aw, Michael!" Gavin says, pretending to be hurt. His english accent makes Michael's name sound wonky and everyone laughs. Michael groans.

"We should probably introduce ourselves." A blonde girl on Gavin's right says. "I am Barbara, the english teacher."

Gavin eyes widen. "Ah, so _you're_ Barbara!"

Barbara scrunches up her nose. "You know me?"

Gavin shrugs. "People around here seem to think you're right a lot."

Barbara laughs. "Damn right I am."

The read head sitting next to Barbara suddenly cuts in and shakes Gavin's hand. "Lindsay. History. Nice to meet you." She doesn't really sound like she's really happy to meet Gavin, though. And she's kind of glaring at him. Gavin decides he finds her kind of scary.

The next person to introduce himself is the math teacher, Jack, and after that the chemistry teacher, Ryan.

("He once blew up the chemistry classroom." Geoff tells him later. "Nobody got hurt, it was just this big explosion with lots of colors and shit. I thought it looked pretty awesome. Until it turned out I was going to be the one that had to clean it up. That was less awesome."

Gavin just nods and vows to never get into a fight with Ryan.)

Gavin spends his lunch talking to his new coworkers and for the first time that day he feels like he's going to like it here. They're all super friendly and funny and immediately make him feel like he's part of the family (except maybe Lindsay, who keeps glaring at him every time he starts talking to Barbara).

But most of all, he gets along with Michael. Gavin knows he's gay and he also knows he is already developing feelings for Michael and he also knows that this is going to be a problem.

("Hey Michael?" Gavin asks halfway lunch.

"Yes?" Michael says, pointedly ignoring the fries that Ray is throwing to his head. Gavin thinks it is a bit weird, but Michael seems used to it, so it probably happens all the time.

"What do you think would happen if your legs didn't know they were legs?"

Michael sighs, places his fork down and looks at Gavin with that 'I am so done with you' look that Gavin gets a lot. "You want to know what I think? I think you're an idiot." And with that, he picks up his fork again and continues eating his food.

The words sound mean but Gavin knows from the way Michael is hiding his grin that he didn't actually mean it.

One of the fries Ray is throwing lands in Michael's soda.

"THAT'S IT YOU MOTHERFUCKER I'VE TOTALLY HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR FRY THROWING I SWEAR TO GOD YOU WILL THROW ONE MORE FRY AT ME I WILL SHOVE THOSE FRIES IN A PLACE WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE.")

The day is long and hot and slightly boring and Gavin is probably just as glad as his students when the bell rings for final period. He waves them all goodbye and starts cleaning up his classroom, picking up some pieces of crumpled up paper and replacing a few chairs.

"You almost done?" A voice asks from the doorway and when he looks up Geoff standing there. Gavin can see his janitors outfit sticking to his back with sweat from the heat and is suddenly very glad he has a job that doesn't involve wearing dark blue overall's.

"Well, sucks for you then, because I still need to clean this entire goddamn school, so if you want to go home you either need to find someone else to take you or walk."

"No, I'll walk. It'll be good to clear my head for a bit. It's been a long day." Gavin says, collecting the last of his stuff and heading for the door.

Geoff nods. "Good. Well, I'll come home as soon as I'm finished. See you later bud." And with that he disappears into the hallway.

"See you later, Geoff." Gavin mumbles after him, but Geoff is long gone.

The walk back to his -well, Geoff's house, actually. He's just staying there until he finds a proper house- is only twenty minutes long and plus the fact that the weather is actually really nice (as long as you walk in the shade) makes it that Gavin actually really enjoys the walk.

He over thinks his day a bit, and realizes that even though a lot of things did not go as smoothly as planned (such as navigating), all this considered he had had a pretty great day.

The highlight of his day is still probably Michael and his cute face and foul mouth and his arms. If this is how the average guy in Texas looks, Gavin is pretty sure he has just entered heaven.

Even though based on the temperature he should say hell.

\--

"But you have actually talked to him, right?" Gavin asks, confused. It was a few weeks later and he was currently getting educated on the whole Ray/Joel thing.

Ray sadly shakes his head. He had been kind of weary about bringing Gavin into this, scared what his reaction might be after he found out that Ray was gay, but Gavin had just laughed and said "Same, dude." And Ray had visibly relaxed.

"He has said a few words to him-" Michael starts, only to be cut off by Lindsay, who whispers  "Are you sorry?" making everyone laugh while Ray sinks down further in his seat.

Lindsay leans over to Gavin and tells him the story of how Ray bumped into Joel. Ever since she found out he was gay she has stopped glaring at him, instead opting to be very nice to him and sending him suggestive eyebrow wiggles everytime he did as much as look at Michael.

Though this probably terrified Gavin even more, he was glad to see that she at least didn't try to murder him with her eyes anymore.

Once everyone has calmed down and stopped laughing, Michael continues. "Anyway, they've never had any actual conversations."

Gavin frowns. "But you like him, right?" Ray nods. "Then why don't you talk to him?"

"It's kind of hard when he's never around." Ray says with a shrug. "He's the drama teacher, you see, very passionate about what he does. Rarely ever leaves the auditorium. He even eats his lunch there."

"Isn't there a school play coming up?" Gavin asks, remembering seeing sign up sheets all around the school.

"Yeah, why?" Ray looks confused and a little scared.

Gavin grins. "Well, I saw sign up sheets for set builders. They probably need teachers supervision too, don't they?"

Ray looks at him quizzically. "Yes?"

"Well, what if you sign up? You help with the set, which gives you a chance to be closer to Joel. It'll be top!" Gavin excitedly claps his hands. Ray looks a bit weary.

"I'm not a really great at building things though..."

Gavin waves it off. "I'll help you. I will sign up too."

"Then I'll sign up too." Michael suddenly spoke. "There's about a 99% chance you idiots will screw up if you try to build something without my help. You suck."

"Thanks, Michael. It's really nice to hear you have faith in me." Gavin dryly states.

Ray says nothing. He looks a bit pale.

\--

"Don't forgot to fill in the assignment I just gave you, as it is your homework. I see you all tomorrow." Gavin says, dismissing his class.

The students all bustle around for a bit and Gavin waits patiently for them to leave before he starts cleaning up the classroom. It is the end of another long day and he's very glad it is finally over.

He checks his classroom one more time before leaving, knowing he has to walk yet again because Geoff is still working. On his walk home he passes the school's sports field, where the american football team is currently running around for training.

Curiously, because he hadn't actually seen the team training after school before, Gavin comes closer. Upon reaching the edge of the field, he leans on the fence and smiles when he recognizes a familiar voice shouting at the boys that were running around.

"You shit fucking lazy ass motherfuckers! Summer's made you weak! And you, what was your name? Peterson? What the fuck are you even doing. What is that- THAT IS NOT A FUCKING PUSH UP YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING FISH FLOPPING SADLY ON DRY LAND. You hear that? YOU LOOK LIKE FUCKING FISH!"

"Hi Michael!" Gavin excitedly shouts when Michael stops screaming for a second. "What the fuck do you- oh, hi Gavin." It's probably Gavin's mind playing tricks, but it looks like Michael's features soften the minute he spots Gavin.

"Watcha doin'?" Gavin says when Michael walks over to him.

Michael shrugs. "Football try outs."

Gavin frowns. "You never told me you were the football coach." He looks at the boys, who still try to do push ups. Some of them easily keep going while some of them seem to have serious struggles. One has given up and is now making flower crowns.

"No, well, in my defense I didn't know I was going to be the coach. It was between me and Luna, since the old coach quit last year. I won." He follows Gavin's line of sight and spots the dude making flower crowns too.

"Oh for god's sake Carlson! We went over this! No fucking flower crowns!" The guy, Carlson, growls and places the finished flower crown on Peterson's head. Peterson smiles.

Michael sighs. "They're adorable, those two. But I'm doubting if they will be proper football player material." He mutters to Gavin.

"Ok, guys, five laps around the field! Go, go, go!" Michael shouts and the guys run off, leaving Michael and Gavin to stand by the fence. Petersons flower crown falls of his head and he squeals and stops to pick it up, accidentally bumping into the guy running behind him. Gavin laughs.

"Hey, you have anything to do this afternoon? Because maybe you'd like to watch the try outs and help me pick the right ones for the team afterwards?" Michael almost shyly asks, rubbing his neck.

Gavin thinks about all the homework he still needs to check and shrugs.Those can wait another day. "Sure, I'll just take a seat in the bleachers." He says and saunters off, leaving a smiling Michael behind.

"Awesome." He mumbles, before turning back to the boys. "COME ON, YOU LITTLE PIECES OF SHIT! RUN LIKE YOU'RE THE LAST FRENCH FRY ON EARTH BEING CHASED BY HUNDREDS OF HUNGRY PEOPLE! RUN!"

\--

This has been a bad idea, Gavin thinks as he watches Michael from the bleachers. The gym teacher/football coach is jumping up and down and shouting insults and encouragements and he is practically pooling in sweat and the tank top he's wearing shows of his arms even better and _oh god_.

This was a bad idea.

Finally, right when Gavin starts thinking of quick ways to get out of there before his boner becomes too obvious, Michael calls the boys over and tells them to shower and that the results will be up at the end of the week.

And then he's walking over to Gavin, still all sweaty and muscular and _help_. Gavin wishes teleporting was a thing. He could really use a teleportation machine that will take him to the moon right now.

"And? What did you think?" Michael asks when he's standing right in front of Gavin.

_I think you are very handsome and I would very much like to have sex with you._ His mind supplies. Gavin tells his mind to shut up. "To me it looked pretty good, but then again, I don't know much about football."

Michael laughs and starts talking about who he wants for the team and who not and Gavin just occasionally nods and tries to shut up his brain (right now it is chanting _look at those lips look at those lips look at those lips_ and Gavin thinks his brain needs to stop because this is _not helping_ ).

"So yeah. I'm still in doubt about Carlson and Peterson though. I feel like Carlson really has potential, but the only reason he's here is because Peterson wanted him too so if I want Carlson on the team I need Peterson too and lets be honest, Peterson sucked."

"You can always put Peterson on the bench the first few games. Maybe he gets better over time or something."

Michael smiles softly at him and Gavin blushes lightly. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Thanks, Gav. Anyway, how're you going to get home? Because I'm pretty sure Geoff already left."

"I was going to walk anyway, so it's no big deal." Gavin says with a shrug.

Michael shakes his head. "Oh no, you helped me out, now I'll help you. I'll give you a lift."

Gavin wants to remind him of the fact that he barely helped in any decision and that he just sat here swooning over Michael, but he is very tired and Michael is offering him a ride, so he might as well accept, right?

\--

"Gavin for the love of god, _stop fucking with the radio_." Michael says after Gavin changes the channel for the millionth time. Gavin immediately lets go of the button and Michael groans even louder when he hears what song is playing.

Gavin laughs and starts singing along. "You are my fiiiree, the one desiiiiree"

Michael groans. "No, no. Shut up. Please shut up."

"Believe when I say, I want it that way."

"Gavin shut up."

But Gavin keeps signing and Michael can't help but laugh. Gavin looks really cute like this, curled up in Michael's car seat, flailing his arms around as he sings (or more screams) the lyrics to a backstreet boys song.

The chorus hits and suddenly Michael can't help himself anymore. "Tell my why!" He sings and Gavins smiles at him.

"Ain't nothing but a heartache!"

"Tell me why!"

"Ain't nothing but a mistake!"

"Tell me why, I never wanna hear you say, I want it that way." They sing the last line together and burst out in laughter, uncapable to finish the rest of the song.

"You have a really nice voice." Gavin says as the laughter has calmed down a bit.

"Thanks. You don't." Michael says, poking out his tongue at Gavin.

Gavin fake pouts. "But Michael!"

"Oh, shut up."

\--

"What is Geoff doing?" Gavin asks as he sits down at their table in the teachers lounge the next day. Geoff is repeatedly hitting his head on the table while groaning loudly.

"Geoff is a dumb." Michael offers as explanation.

Gavin raises an eyebrow at Michael and he sighs. "He met the new woodshop teacher. Apparently she is pretty."

Geoff's head shoots up. "Pretty? She is _beautiful_."

"You mean Griffon?" Gavin asks, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Geoff abruptly turns towards him, grabbing the sandwich out of his hands and throwing it away in order to properly grab Gavin's hands. "You know her?"

Gavin stares at the sandwich, that was now laying in pieces on the floor. "Damnit Geoff, that was a good sandwich! You are totally cleaning that up, you know."

Geoff scoffs. "Of course I'm cleaning that up. I'm the fucking janitor, it's my fucking job to clean that up. Now, tell me more about Griffon."

Gavin shrugs. "I talked to her a few times. She's really nice. I can't believe you haven't noticed her before."

Geoff huffs. "Not my fault, I don't think she ever comes into the teachers lounge.Anyway, I need more detail. Is she single? I need to know if she's single."

Gavin nods. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's single."

Geoff's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "That means I have a chance! See you later, fuckers. I need to go talk to someone." And with that he raced out of the teachers lounge, leaving a confused Michael and Gavin behind.

"Geoff is weird."

"No shit, sherlock."

\--

"Nonononono," Rays says, struggling against the grip Michael and Gavin have on his arms.

"Yes yes yes." Michael corrects, grinning wickedly. "Come on, Ray, I'm sure it will be fun."

They're on the way to the first meeting of the set team of the annual school play and Ray is, to put it mildly, not excited.

"I will fuck this up, you know I will fuck this up. I will walk in there, say something insanely stupid, Joel will never want to talk to me ever again and it will all be your fault." Ray whines, still struggling to get out of the iron grip the two other boys have on him.

"Stop being such a drama queen and get your shit together, Ray. You'll be fucking fine." Michael sighs, pushing Ray through the auditorium doors.

"Hello?" Michael shouts as he walks in, Gavin and Ray following closely behind.

"Hi!" Joel shouts from the stage, waving to them enthusiastically. "Great you could make it. Awesome."

They reach the stage and Ray is probably cutting off all blood circulation in Gavin's arm with the grip he has on it.

"Ok, so, the rest of the set building team will be here in like half an hour, but I wanted you three here first so we can go over some things, since you will be supervising this whole thing." Joel says, handing them copies of the script.

"Grease? Really?" Michael says, rolling his eyes at the cliché choice of play.

Ray, on the other hand, smiles brightly. "Oh really? I love that movie!"

Joel smiles excitedly. "Really? Yeah, me too. I also feel like it will be great fun for the students, I mean, the songs are iconic and stuff so they probably already know all of them, which leaves more time for choreography and perfecting the acting, you know?"

Ray nods understandingly and Gavin pokes Michael's ribs while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Michael laughs, which seems to shake Joel and Ray out of there 'Grease appreciation moment'.

"Right, so, I have a list of sets I would really like to see, so it would be awesome to see if you could look that over and see how much of that you will be capable of building in the three months you have." Joel says, handing them even more papers.

"Some sets are definitely going to be tricky, but just see what you can make of it. I have faith in you." Ray, Michael and Gavin read through the paper and slightly pale.

"Do you think this is the time to tell him we know absolutely nothing about set building?" Gavin whispers to Michael when he has finished reading.

"Nah, we'll just wing it. I mean look how happy Ray looks." Michael whispers, pointing towards Ray, who has gone back to talking about Joel, discussing what the possibilities for the 'Greased Lightning set' are.

"I think I know where we can get a cheap junk car, if we manage to fix that up and ride it into the auditorium we have at least that set." Ray says and Joel beams.

"Really? That would awesome!"

Gavin looks at Ray, who is smiling so bright they probably don't need any set lighting. "Yeah, we'll wing it."

\--

Later that day, when Gavin is about to leave the school to walk home, he hears someone screaming his name behind him.

"Gavin! Hey dickhead, wait up!" Gavin already knows who it is before he even turns around.

"Hey Michael!" He says, spinning around to face the auburn haired boy standing behind him.

"Hey, you need a ride home?" Michael says, cheeks flushed and slightly panting from running. Gavin is convinced by now that the universe hates him.

"Yeah, I guess? I mean, if you don't mind?"

Michael immediately shakes his head. "No, no, otherwise I wouldn't be offering, would I? Come on." He walks off to his car and Gavin follows.

"But don't you fucking dare to touch my fucking radio this time, understood?" Michael says and Gavin laughs.

\--

It's a thing after that day. Gavin will close off his classroom and walk to Michael's car, where Michael's already standing.

(Sometimes he has to wait for Michael, which scares the shit out of him because _what if he doesn't show up?_ Of course he always shows up, it's his car after all, how else is he's going to get home? But Gavin forgives his brain for freaking out every single time Michael is a bit late. It has the tendency of freaking out over cute boys.)

On days when Michael has football practise Gavin will sit in on the bleachers and grade papers while he sneaks glances at Michael every now and then.

(Michael sneaks glances at Gavin every now and then too, gushing about how cute he looks when concentrating on something, his brow furrowed and tongue peeking out. Of course Gavin never catches Michael staring at him, he makes sure of that.)

The car rides are always fun, Michael and Gavin either talking about their day or just listening to music in a comfortable silence.

And Gavin just finds himself falling more and more in love with Michael. Not that he's going to do anything about it. After all, Michael is definitely not into him.

\--

The set building continues too, and it's actually going sort of good.

(Except that one time Michael was explaining to a student how to properly hold a saw when he heard someone screaming and, after further inspection, discovered that Gavin had cut himself and that his hand was covered in blood.

"You goddamn fucking idiot." Michael says when he has made sure the cut isn't that bad.

Gavin pouts. "It hurts." Michael rolls his eyes and ruffles through the first aid kit in search for band aids.

"Kiss it better?" Gavin asks, lip jutting out and eyes big and teary.

"You are so goddamn weird." Michael states. But he kisses Gavin's finger quickly anyway, before putting the band aid on.

Gavin smiles brightly.)

Ray and Joel actually seem to engage in conversation every now and then, Ray coming up with set ideas and Joel excitedly nodding every single time. It is kind of really adorable.

Sometimes the three of them have to sit in on actual rehearsals to see where everyone stands and how big they can make the sets and what can possibly be added. Gavin is pretty convinced Ray constantly gets a boner whenever Joel steps in to correct the students, telling them how to say their lines or where they should walk.

At least, if the completely starstruck looks Ray constantly sends Joel are anything to go by.

Gavin gets stuck in this routine for awhile, teaching during the day and then after school working on the set or driving home with Michael or watching football practice. It's nice and comfortable and Gavin is finally starting to feel at home. Maybe he should thank Geoff for telling him about the job after all.

Speaking about Geoff, when Gavin walks into the teachers lounge during lunch time one day, Geoff is already sitting there, despite the fact Gavin was rather early. He is slamming his head against the table and groaning in despair.

"Ehm, Geoff?"  Gavin says as he sits down next to the man. "You alright?"

"No." Geoff says. It sounds muffled, due to the fact that he has now stopped banging his head on the table and instead opted for burying his head in his hands.

"Alright... So, tell me what's wrong? Because this morning when we left for school you seemed fine." Gavin says, getting slightly worried now.

Geoff sighs. "I asked Griffon out on a date."

Gavin blinks. "I, eh, oh? Did she say no? Is that why you are so upset?"

Geoff shakes his head. "No, she said yes."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Gavin asks, slightly confused.

Geoff finally looks up at him. "No, Gavin, that is not a good thing. Because after I asked her out I realized I'm not good enough for her, but I can't back out now, you know? She'll just get hurt and I don't want her to get hurt and Jesus Christ I sound like a teenage girl."

"Wait, what? Not good enough for her? You're kidding, right?" Gavin asks, possibly even more confused.

Geoff shakes his head. "No, I'm not. Look at me, Gav, I'm thirty years old and I'm a goddamn janitor in a shitty ass high school! I have achieves _nothing_ in life. I am worthless, ok? And she, she deserves better than that."

Gavin rolls his eyes. "Ok, seriously? First of all, Geoff, and listen closely because I'm only going to say this once, first of all I would like to tell you that you are one of the smartest, funniest, nicest people I know. You're the one that got me here in the first place, and Jesus Christ I owe you so much for that.

Second of all, Griffon would be lucky to have you. You obviously really like her and there is no doubt in my mind you're willing to give her the world. Just because you have a shitty job doesn't mean you're a shitty person. Now please stop being a teenage girl because it's kind of weird and annoying." Gavin says and Geoff smiles at him.

"You're awesome, you know that?" He says, but before Gavin can respond Lindsay and Barbara come walking in.

"He said 1965, Barbs! How can he even think Henry VI died in 1965. Seriously, sometimes I just don't want to live on this planet anymore." Lindsay miserably said as she sat down next to Gavin.

Barbara laughs. "Come on, Linds, give those poor kids a break, I mean I couldn't tell you when the guy died either."

Lindsay huffs. "No, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't say 1965."

"Didn't he die in 400 B.C.?" Gavin says, just to annoy Lindsay.

And taken from the look she sends him, it worked.

\--

"Geoff might actually die from the nerves though." Gavin says to Michael when they're driving home, after telling him the story of Geoff teenage girl moment.

"I think it's cute. So, what're they gonna do?"

Gavin shrugs. "Dunno, knowing Geoff they're probably just going to get something to eat or something. Then after get back to his or her place and-" Gavin pauses and looks at Michael with horrified eyes. "Oh god, Michael what if they go back to Geoff's place and," he lowers his voice to a barely audible whisper, " _do the thing._ "

Michael shakes his head fondly. "You mean have sex while you are in the other room?"

Gavin nods, eyes wide. "I don't want that! I don't want to hear them _do the thing_."

Michael rolls his eyes. "Jesus Christ, Gav, stop caling sex _the thing_. And if it really scares you so much you can always sleep over at my place?"

Gavin's face lights up like a christmas tree. "Really? Oh, that would be top!"

Michael nods. "Yeah sure, we'll have to get some stuff from your house and you have to text Geoff to let him know, but sure, should be fun." He says and smiles when he sees Gavin excitedly bouncing up and down on the seat next to him.

"Oh, Michael, we're going to have a real sleepover! It's going to be so much fun!"

Michael strongly feels like he's going to regret this decision.

\--

Yeah, he's definitely regretting this. Gavin is sitting next to him on the couch squealing at the tv and letting his character die for like the millionth time and how can you be this bad at video games.

"YOU FUCK! YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT FUCK!" Michael screams when Gavin accidentally kills them both.

"But Michael!"

Michael furiously turns towards Gavin. "No, no 'but Michael'. You fucking killed us. Again. I am so fucking done with you, you piece of shit."

"Michael?" Gavin says, after Michael has turned back to the game. Michael makes a noncommittal noise and keeps his eyes fixed on the screen.  "You're my boy, Michael."

Michael wants to be annoyed, but he can't help but smile nonetheless. "You're my boy, Gavin."

\--

Michael wakes up in the morning to what sounds like someone breaking into his apartment. He hears someone shuffling around, a few crashes and something that sounds like muffled curses. So he grabs the baseball bat that lies next to his bed for these kind of things and quietly tippy toes into the hallway.

He heads for the kitchen, where the noises seem to be coming from. He slowly pushes open the door and storms in, yelling random (hopefully) angry and terrifying words. The intruder begins screaming too and Michael is about to hit him with the baseball bat when he suddenly hears the intruder scream "Michael!" in an all too familiar voice and he stops half swing, immediately lowering the bat.

"Good morning, Gavin." Michael casually says, placing the bat down on the table and starting to prepare his coffee.

"What was that all about?!" Gavin says, still looking slightly shocked and scared.

"What? Where are you talking about?" Michael innocently says, sipping his coffee and immediately burning his mouth. He curses.

"You just- You just barged in here waving a baseball bat around like a lunatic and then acted like nothing was wrong!" Gavin says, slightly angry but mostly just confused.

"No I didn't."

"Michael."

"Nope, didn't happen."

" _Michael._ "

Michael sighs. "Fine. I thought you were a burglar." He begrudgingly admits.

Gavin, like Michael had already expected, starts laughing uncontrollably. "You thought I was a- Oh my god, Michael!"

Michael huffs. "I had forgotten you were staying over, ok? So I heard noises and I thought someone was breaking in."

Gavin laughs even harder. "So you decide to attack them with a baseball bat? Jesus, Michael, it's good to know that at least I'll be safe when you're around."

Michael shrugs. "Of course you'll be safe. You're my boy." Gavin smiles widely at those words.

Michael sits down at the kitchen table and starts eating his breakfast. "What were you doing in the kitchen anyway?" He asks Gavin, who had turned his back to Michael (to hide the blush that had crept on his face, but Michael didn't need to know that."

Gavin shrugs. "I was looking for tea."

"Sucks for you then, because I don't have any." Gavin lets out a horrified gasp.

"No tea?" He sounds heartbroken. Michael thinks Gavin is kind of overreacting (but it's Gavin so it's not that weird).

"No tea." Michael confirmes and Gavin wails and drops on his knees, dramtically screaming "Nooooo!" and shaking his fists at the ceiling.

Michael rolls his eyes. "Jesus Christ, Gav, calm your shit, we will get you some tea on the way to work, allright?"

Gavin immediately jumps up from the floor. "Thank you, Michael!" He happily exclaims as he wanders off, probably to grab his shit and get ready for school, leaving Micheal to fondly shake his head as he continues to eat his breakfast.

(Picking up the tea makes them slightly late (it makes it kind of really worth it when Gavin takes a sip, sighs happily and claims that Michael is the best person on the surface of the earth. Michael tells his to shut up, but is slightly blusging anyway. Another one of his list of 'things he will take with him to the grave'.) and they have to push through the crowd of students to sort of arrive to their classrooms in time. Gavin pats Michael on the head when they pass the gym and runs off to his own classroom, shouting "I see you at lunch, my lovely little boy!" over his shoulder. A few students send them weird looks and Michael immediately occupies himself with trying to open the lock of the door to hide his blush (because apparently that is a thing he does now).)

\--

"I'm in love." Geoff declares as he sits down at the lunch table later that day.

"Are you now." Michael says, rolling his eyes, while at the same time trying to dodge the fry that Ray throws at him. He fails and the fry gets stuck in his hair, but he doesn't notice it and Ray almost topples of his chair from laughing.

"Yes. She's perfect and I'm in love." Geoff sighs happily, leaning his head on his hands. He has never looked more like a teenage girl.

"Who's perfect?" Gavin asks, popping up out of nowhere and sitting down next to Michael.

"Griffon. We went on a date last night, remember?"

Gavin grins. "Guessing that went good them?"

Geoff sighs happily again. "Good? It was perfect. Just like her."

Gavin turns to Michael, probably to pull some 'oh god, look at Geoff being a teenage girl' face, but instead bursts out in laughter when he notices the fry that is stuck in Michael's curls. "Oh, Michael!" He says and takes the fry out of his hair.

"What?" Michael asks, slightly confused. Gavin holds up the fry and Michael sighs.

"Ray Narvaez Jr., you better start running right now, because when I've finished my lunch I'm going to fucking murder you."

"Please don't, I like having him around. He has great ideas for the set." Someone behind them says. They turn around only to find none other than Joel standing there. "Hi. I, eh, was wondering, because, well, normally I sit alone in the auditorium during lunch, but I thought, like, maybe it's ok if I join you guys?"

Ray chokes on a fry. "Karma." Michael whispers, before turning back to Joel. "Sure, sit down!" He says, making sure Joel sits in the chair across from Ray, who's currently looking like he's trying very hard to blend in with the environment.

Joel introduces himself to the rest of the table and in no time conversations are back to normal, Joel easily blending in with the banter the group has going on. Eventually Ray gets over his initial shock and acts a bit more natural, even though Michael catches him sending love struck looks at Joel every now and then. He doesn't say anything about it, though, because Ray has finally stopped throwing fries at him and even though he really enjoys annoying Ray, at the end of the day he prefers fry-free hair.

\--

Griffon joins their table a few days later, this time making Geoff choke on his food. The space at their table is getting limited now and the chairs get pushed together closer to make room for Griffon, which essentially means that Gavin, who is sitting next to Michael almost every break, is now closely pressed against his side and whenever he laughs he can feel the vibrations and sometimes he laughs so hard he will lean his head on Michael's shoulder and it's making Michael feel things he doesn't really want to feel.

This is exactly what he tells Lindsay one morning, when they're both early and sitting in the break room sipping their coffee.

Lindsay laughs. "Are you sure you don't want to feel those feelings? Because something tells me you really want to get in his sexy British pants." Is all she says and Michael frowns at her.

But he can really say anything more about it because at that point Gavin and Geoff come in and Gavin bounds over to Michael and hug attacks him and squeals all kind of things but the only thing Michael can make out is "Goodmorning my lovely little boy."

Michael sighs and hugs him back. "Good morning, Gav."

Over Gavin's shoulder he can see Lindsay wiggling her eyebrows at him. He glares at her.

\--

It's a week before the play and everyone is freaking out.

Or, actually, Joel is freaking out which in result is freaking everyone else out.

Luckily, Ray is there, because every time Joel has one of his freak outs, Ray will walk over, place a hand on Joel's shoulder, say "Relax, Joel, it'll be fine." And Joel will smile weakly and nod and resume repetitions less freaked out.

The set building is also going surprisingly great, everything finally really coming together.

("Look, Michael!" Gavin squeals, pointing at the stairs he has just painted white.

Michael nods approvingly, but almost bursts out laughing when he sees Gavin. His clothes are covered in splats of paint, and there's also some on his cheek.

"Come here, you dope." Michael says, hauling Gavin forward and attempting to wipe the white paint of his cheek. He only makes it worse.

"This is not working. Go take a shower or something."

Gavin smiles. "Thanks anyway, Michael!" He says, pulling Michael in for a hug.

"GODDAMNIT GAVIN NOW I'M COVERED IN PAINT TOO!")

And suddenly it's there, the big night: the premiere of the school play.

And they fucking smash it. The students turn out to be awesome actors, the decor is kick ass and everything runs as smoothly as a premiere can go.

Joel visibly relaxes more by every scene that goes well and Ray is next to him beaming with pride. Michael and Gavin are not really sure if he's proud of the students or of Joel.

The show ends, flowers are thrown on stage, Joel gets dragged out on stage too and he gets a standing ovation, the cast self cheering the loudest.

When Joel leaves the stage, Ray rushes towards him and jumps in his arms and Michael and Gavin are cheering and suddenly _they are kissing._

"I did not see that coming." Michael states, as they watch Joel and Ray, who are now in the middle of a heavy make out session. Some students walk past them cheering loudly.

"Same. They're cute though." Gavin says with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah they are," Michael says, smiling too. "Come on, let's give them some privacy." He grabs Gavins arm and drags him towards the aftershow buffet.

\--

Here's the thing about Michael: Michael doesn't do love. He doesn't do all that sappy stuff like swooning over someone or complaining to his friend how awesome the person is and how he never has a chance with them and he certainly doesn't get all heart eyes lovey-dovey when he sees his person of interest.

Most relationships he had it had just been 'hey I think you are cool and you think I am cool too lets go for dinner sometime'.

But with Gavin it was different.

Because when he saw Gavin his palms got sweaty and butterflies started fluttering in his stomach and he just wants to do cute couply things with him like lay on the couch and cuddle and watch movies and it's weird.

He's looking at Gavin right now, sitting in the bleachers of this year's first football match, all decked out in the schools colors and waving a small replica of the school flag excitedly. He sees Michael and smiles brightly, shouting something that sounds vaguely like "Rock their socks of, Michael!"

Michael shakes his head fondly, turning back to the field, where the team is getting ready. Seeing Gavin look so excitedly makes him even more determined to win and he starts shouting directions to the team.

(They end up losing, but it doesn't matter, because Gavin is there as he exits the field and he's blabbering about how this was his first football game and that it was awesome and 'I don't care they didn't win Michael, the team gave their all and you should be proud of them.'

Gavin fails to mention that he didn't really pay attention to the team, since he was way too busy admiring the coach.

But can you blame the guy? After all, Michael looks great in his gym shorts and all sweaty from all the shouting and jumping up and down.)

\--

"I might have a slight crush on Gavin." Michael says to Lindsay when they're once again alone in the teachers lounge.

"No shit, Sherlock. Took you long enough." Lindsay says, casually sipping her coffee.

Michael sighs. "Yeah, yeah, you already knew that. Congratulations. Can we now move on to more important subjects? Like Gavin not liking me back?"  

Lindsay almost suffocates in her coffee from laughing. "Oh gross, you made me snort coffee up my nose." She says, pulling a disgusted voice. "Anyway, you are kidding, right? That dude's so in love with you. Did you know the students are actually betting on when you two will come out as a couple? Even they know you two are in love. The only ones oblivious to it all are you and Gavin. It is both hilarious and heart breaking to watch really. Seriously dude, just kiss and have babies and stuff, I’m so done with you two tiptoeing around each other.”

Michael huffs. “We’re not tiptoeing and Gavin doesn’t like me back, ok? I mean, it’s fucking Gavin we’re talking about here, I don’t even think Gavin is capable of feelings like that. Just, just leave it, ok? Forget I ever said anything.” He gets up and walks off, ignoring Lindsay’s protests in the background.

\--

Since hanging out with Gavin makes him feel things he really really doesn’t want to feel, he decides that he should just stop hanging out with Gavin altogether, which turns out to be harder than he thought.

Because over the months Gavin and Michael’s lives have strung together pretty tightly, to the point where they do almost everything together.

But Michael is determined, so he makes sure he doesn’t sit down next to Gavin during breaks anymore, comes up with excuses why Gavin can’t drive with him, and pretends he doesn’t see him when he passes him in the hallways.

Gavin notices. Of fucking course Gavin notices because they went from doing everything together to doing nothing together.

So he corners Michael on a rainy afternoon, stands in front of his car and refuses to let him step inside until he talks to him.

Michael looks at him helplessly. “Please, Gavin, just, just let me go home, ok? It’s late and I want to go home.”

Gavin determinately shakes his head. “No, not until you tell me what’s going on.”

Michael opens his mouth to say something but Gavin cuts him off. “Don’t you dare say nothing is wrong Michael because you have been ignoring me and you and I both know it.

Michael sighs defeatedly. “I just, I thought it would be better for me if I ignored you, that the feelings would go away, that I just… That we could be friends again, but I can’t, ok? I never can and it hurts and I don’t want to hurt anymore and-” Michael stops mid sentence to look at a very confused Gavin.

“I’m in love with you.” The words roll of his tongue before he can stop himself and he wants to cry and break down because Gavin’s eyes widen and he looks shocked and he definitely hates him now and everything is wrong and suddenly they’re kissing.

The kiss is soft and it’s everything Michael has ever dreamed of and wow. Wow.

Gavin pulls away and smiles at Michael’s shocked face. “I’m in love with you, too, you idiot.”

Michael smiles brightly at Gavin and pulls him into another kiss. Around them, the rain hits the pavement, but they don’t care. They finally have each other.

\--

This is it. It’s the last game of the year and it’s the last chance for the football team to at least win one game (so far they have lost _everything_ ).

Gavin is seated in the bleachers, next to Lindsay, who’s dressed in the school colors and is excitedly screaming yells, soon joined by an equally dressed Barbara.

On his other side Joel and Ray are sitting, discreetly holding hands while Joel is trying to explain Ray the rules of football, while Ray pretends he has never seen a football game in his life.

The game starts and Gavin smiles brightly through the entire thing, never looking at the game but instead opting to oggle Michael, who’s, like always, jumping up and down on the side lines, screaming encouragement at their team.

They win. They actually fucking win and everyone is screaming and yelling and Gavin sprints down the bleacher onto the field, right into Michael’s waiting arms. “You did it! You fucking did it!” Gavin screams and his ear and Michael laughs.

“Technically it was the team who did it.”

“Yes and who taught that team everything they know? You.” Gavin says, giving Michael a quick kiss.

“Really? I finally win a fucking football game and that’s all I get?” Michael says with a raised eyebrow and Gavin laughs, before pulling his boyfriend in for a proper kiss.

Behind them, out of their sight, some students grumpily hand money to their cheering classmates.

 


End file.
